1) Is there a separate entity 'self', 'me' 'I', at all, anywhere, in any way, shape or form?
Was there ever?


There is no separate self whatsoever. There never was, and never could be. The word/thought/convention "I" can be a useful concept on a relative, human level, but it is fundamentally ...

I'm ready!

Can you say that there has been a shift from an intellectual understanding of there being no separate self other than an idea, to an experience recognition of it as a fact of reality?


Yes, absolutely.

Is there any doubt?

About the self being found nowhere except in the content of thinking ...

So, what have you discovered?

I thought of another way of saying it that I hope might make more sense.

In raw experience, there is only the thing that is experienced.

"I touch the table with my hand" is one of the best examples, for me. Looking into that direct experience, what's there is a ...

So, what have you discovered?

Is there any experience of separation?
Is there anything standing apart from experience, having the experience?


The whole notion of there being an outside perspective on experience is impossible. "Awareness of experience" is fascinating , sure, but it doesn't ...

I will continue to investigate these questions and update if I find anything to add or change, but I feel quite confident in my responses, because once I finally figured out how to LOOK, investigating usually feels pretty straightforward and answers are clear.

Where is the me, the person in this ...

Does the pure sensation suggest in any way that this is ‘sad’, ‘happy’, ‘peaceful’, ‘uncomfortable’, ‘bad’ or ‘good’?
Or ‘happy’, ‘sad’, ‘good’ or ‘bad’, ‘uncomfortable’, are just mental labels on the pure sensation?
Does the pure sensation have any innate attributes, or is it totally NEUTRAL?
Is ...

I can see that you are really looking :)


This is a relief to have confirmed, even though I knew some shift had happened, and I'd finally worked out what it meant to look. That probably wasn't supposed to be as hard as it was!

I'm much less confident the quality of looking for these last ...

Lately, my answers have kind of condensed on most of the exercises, so I've been going through those and journaling them. They still "feel" true, so I'm going to post them here.

There are still 4 that I need to address. It felt like no progress could be made on them until the others felt more ...

When the self is seen through, thoughts of I won’t disappear. Why should they?


Yes! They're a feature, not a bug. They do a great job. "Gabe" can still enjoy the game while knowing it's a game. Today and yesterday during moments of frustration or anxiety, there has been this reflex to stop and ...

I understand the constraints on your time and attention, and I appreciate your patience and persistence.

I will continue to sit with, and live my everyday life with, these questions, and I will post when I feel shifts, though I will not expect any reply until you feel there is something to be said ...

You don’t need more pointers. All you need is here. You’ve got all the pointers you need.


That feels so discouraging and so frustrating! I'll absolutely continue to do the exercises, but I'd like to ask for clarification here. I feel that I've seen clearly the difference between real/experience ...

What is a person? - define in your own words

Is a person an entity or a concept?

A "person" is a concept. It's a label I place on a this whole body-mind complex, that is always changing, but has continuity (through memory, and through interactions with other "body-mind complexes").

Isn’t a ...

Can the thought ‘sweet’ be tasted?
Can the thought ‘warm’ be felt?
Can the thought ‘fragrant scent’ be smelled?
Can the thought ‘beautiful sunset’ be seen?
Can the thought of ‘loud noise’ be heard?

Can the thought of drinking water make your thirst away?

Can the thought of ‘walking on a beach ...

Today, when thinking on this, I came up with another way that the feeling of being a self shows up in a particularly strong way: voluntary actions and choices. When a choice is made, it feels like it had to be made by a chooser. A person. A "me".

*I* am choosing to look for no-self. *I* am ...